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Faridah Malik flew V-22 Osprey cargo haulers for ArcAir, a Chinese, Triad-affiliated aviation company. She enjoyed the company of her co-pilot and best friend, Evelyn Carmichael. One day, the two were assigned to what turned out to be a smuggling operation supervised by Belltower commander Narhari Kahn. After picking up cargo from an off-shore XNG Shipping freighter, the Bel Canto, they were hit by a storm. In the turmoil, Malik discovered that the cargo were stasis pods with live humans, and witnessed Kahn executing one of the victims, a kidnapped Isolay employee who refused to submit to his new "employers". Parting with Evelyn, Malik fled - only to be shot down by Belltower drones on Kahn's orders. Malik survived, found a Sarif Industries business card in her wing-suit and arranged to leave her old life behind.[2]

As Sarif Industries' chief pilot, Faridah is able to fly anything from a helicopter to a VTOL, though she's only seen piloting the VTOL in-game. She is in charge of transport and delivery of Sarif Industries VIPs for any trips that require air transport. She is noted as a dedicated employee and pilot with sometimes overzealous flight tendencies that have proven her to be among the best in the skies. She has a few discreet cranial implants that enable her to be a better pilot.

According to Sarif Industries Human Resources, it has been noted that a small altercation occurred between Faridah Malik and Franklin Phillips. The report notes only that Franklin was overseeing Faridah on maintenance for the company's VTOL. A verbal altercation erupted over the choppers balance levels for VTOL lift when Faridah struck Franklin. No charges were filed against Faridah and she was issued a verbal warning from Human Resources.

As Sarif Industries' chief pilot, Faridah flies Adam Jensen between places and provides him with intel through Jensen's infolink. During Jensen's first visit to Hengsha, Malik seeks Jensen's help to prove the involvement of Lee Hong in the murder of her friend, Evelyn Carmichael.

Upon later returning to Hengsha with Jensen, Malik is redirected to another landing zone, and is then shot down by a Belltower operative with an EMP device fired from a rocket launcher. Malik attempts to repair her crashed VTOL, as it is surrounded and under fire by a large contingent of Belltower troops. When Jensen defeats the Belltower troops to allow Malik to patch up the VTOL and take off, Malik says, "And...thanks, Spy Boy," to which Jensen responds, "Any time, Fly Girl."

Malik's gift to Jensen.

In 2029, a cereal box in Adam Jensen's apartment in Prague contains an apparent gift from Malik to Jensen. If Jensen tries to pour himself a bowl of the cereal, a toy VTOL falls out of the box, looking just like Malik's old craft. Jensen then inspects the box inside out and sees a note taped to the bottom that says, "Hope you like the prize inside, Spy Boy!"[3]

If Jensen manages to defeat the attackers, she will be able to repair the VTOL and escape safely. The player is rewarded with the Good Soul achievement. If Malik survives, she will later assist Jensen at the Singapore facility.

Otherwise, Malik dies if the VTOL sustains too much damage, or if Jensen manages to reach the helipad's elevator before the VTOL explodes. In the latter case, the Belltower soldiers will drag Malik out of the aircraft, and she'll be subsequently executed by Narhari Kahn. If Malik is killed, her corpse can later be found in the Harvesters' hideout on an operating table in the surgery, which can also be accessed from a cracked wall that can be broken down near the room where you meet Tong Si Hung. She is presumably sold by Belltower to the Harvesters, allowing them to extract her mechanical augmentations, like they did with Vasili Sevchenko.

Rescuing Megan and Her Team (conditional) – If Malik survived in "Find Vasili Sevchenko's GPL Device," Malik will assist Jensen at Singapore's Omega Ranch by rescuing the Sarif scientists there, as well as dealing with a number of insane Spec ops troopers.

A hallmark of Malik's personality is her loyalty and devotion to her friends. This is demonstrated in her quest Shanghai Justice in which she is determined to find justice for her dead friend Evelyn. It is also exhibited in Deus Ex: Human Revolution in her enduring friendship with Jensen. She is arguably the person closest to Jensen throughout the game as they embark on nearly all of Jensen's missions together with her as pilot. Malik's friendship with Jensen is such that she is willing to sacrifice herself following the plane crash in the return to Hengsha so that Jensen can escape the ambush. Malik also appears to enjoy a certain latitude with Jensen that others do not, as she feels comfortable teasing him and challenging him. Malik is one of the few people that Jensen trusts completely.[4]

In the Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics, Malik also functions as a confidante to Jensen regarding his feelings about his augmentation and his grief following the death of Katrina Sutherland. Malik encourages Jensen, quoting the "General, Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle" passage from dramatist Bertolt Brecht's famous From a German War Primer to remind him that he is not a machine, and to remember to keep thinking in order to retain his humanity.

Her personality type is Beta should the player attempt to use the CASIE augmentation on her at the Alice Garden Pods.

Doing so will produce some amusing results. Jensen will try to convince Malik, only for her response to be threatening toward Jensen, which in turn causes Jensen to drop the CASIE during their conversation.

She is also one of the few characters in the game who does not have an alternate line of dialogue if you speak to her with a weapon out. This is only possible after the completion of the Milwaukee Junction level -- all other conversations either occur at Sarif HQ, where weapons cannot be drawn, occur in cutscenes, or occur remotely.

An e-mail on Faridah's computer suggests that she may be a rock climber in her spare time. The email, marked "weekend trip" refers to an offer to go to J-Tree and "nail the Fortress! Natural Selection, ba-beee". J-Tree is short hand for Joshua Tree National Park, a climbing destination and Natural Selection is a climbing route established on a crag there called The Fortress. The e-mail is presumably from a climbing partner. [5][6]

Faridah means "unique" or "precious", while Malik means "owner" or "proprietor" in Arabic. Therefore it is probable that she is of Arabic descent, especially given that in real life her birthplace has one of the highest concentration of Arabs in the US. One of the directors in the commentary of the Director's Cut confirms she is of Arab descent.

When Malik was young she broke a leg riding horses at her uncle's ranch. During her recuperation she read extensively the works of Bertolt Brecht.[7]

Faridah Malik was also a name of an actress, who played only one role in her acting career as one of the victim girls in 1975 film 'Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom', based on the book '120 Days of Sodom', by the Marquis de Sade. Coincidence?

On her face, she seems to have a birth mark, which is actually a monroe piercing.[8]